Bengali actor and Trinamool Congress legislator Chiranjeet aka Dipak Chakraborty on Saturday contended that short dresses worn by women were one of the main reasons behind the increase in incidents of harassment of women in his constituency in the North 24 Parganas district.

"Eve-teasing is a very old thing. It has been going on for ages. One of the reasons behind the increase in incidents of eve-teasing is short dresses and short skirts worn by women. This in turn instigates young men," said Chakraborty, who represents Barasat.

His comments come a day after a girl was harassed in the area.

"The incident of eve-teasing is not good. We condemn it but we need to see one thing that there can be no Ramayana without a Ravan," said Charaborty.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday refused to comment on a statement made by Chiranjeet.

"I don't know anything about it," Banerjee said when asked to comment on the statement made by her party MLA.

However, after facing criticism, Chiranjeet tried to clarify his statement.

"I had said that keeping in mind the well-being of the teenaged girls. The comments are nothing but reflections of the concerns that a father, elder brother or a guardian has regarding their teenage daughters or sisters," he said.